Quick freezing device

Abstract

To provide a quick freezing device capable of quickly freezing an article without deformation even when the article is easily deformed.SOLUTION: In a quick freezing device, cooling plates are disposed on a ceiling surface, a bottom surface and two side surfaces in order to freeze a frozen object placed within a quadratic prismatic-like shape, and a pipe in which a refrigerant circulates abuts on the cooling plates. In the quick freezing device, the cooling plates are disposed also on a back surface and an inlet door surface and constitute a closed space, or the quick freezing device freezes a frozen object while the frozen object on a belt conveyor moves a quadratic prismatic-like inner side.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a quick freezing device. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, there has been a growing demand for frozen foods due to their convenience, cost, and short cooking time. Patent Document 1 describes a freezing method that enables high-quality freezing of seafood, meat, etc. by rapid freezing using ice slurry, and returns the frozen product to its pre-frozen state when thawed. Patent Document 2 describes a method of freezing foodstuffs stored in a freezer having a blower installed inside a cabinet with a heat insulating structure by using cold air (air blast). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] International Publication No. 2017 / 086461 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-046675 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, when trying to freeze easily deformed foods such as fresh cream cakes or fresh seafood such as sea urchins, the invention of Patent Document 1 cannot vacuum-pack the frozen objects, so the refrigerant comes into direct contact with the frozen objects, which can cause the objects to become distorted. For this reason, it is difficult to use ice slurry to quickly freeze easily deformed foods. In addition, in the invention of Patent Document 2, cold air is blown onto the object to be frozen, but if the speed of the cold air is slow, quick freezing is not possible, and conversely, if the speed of the cold air is fast, the food will dry out and the flavor and aroma of the food will be carried away by the air flow, and when the frozen product is thawed, it may not return to its pre-freeze delicious state. Moreover, if the speed of the cold air is fast, the shape of the object to be frozen may be distorted. Furthermore, in the case of the cold air type, natural convection occurs in the space where the frozen items are stored, causing the temperature near the ceiling to be higher than near the bottom, resulting in uneven temperatures within the space, which can cause the frozen items to not freeze at a uniform temperature. As a result, this can easily have a negative impact on the quality and shape of the frozen items.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide a quick freezing device that can quickly freeze even easily deformed articles without losing their shape. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The invention described in claim 1 is a quick freezing device in which cooling plates with pipes through which a refrigerant circulates or cooling plates through which a refrigerant circulates are arranged on the ceiling, bottom, and two side surfaces in order to freeze frozen items placed inside the rectangular prism. The invention described in claim 2 is the quick freezing device described in claim 1, wherein the quadrangular prism is a cube. The invention described in claim 3 is the quick freezing device described in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the cooling plates are also arranged on the back surface and the entrance door surface. The invention described in claim 4 is a quick freezing device having a bottom surface and a long wall surface with an arc-shaped or elliptical arc-shaped cross section, which is composed of a cooling plate to which a pipe through which a refrigerant circulates is in contact, or a cooling plate through which a refrigerant circulates. The invention described in claim 5 is the quick freezing device described in claim 1 or claim 4, which freezes the objects to be frozen while they are moving on the belt conveyor. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a quick-freezing device that can quickly freeze even easily deformed articles without losing their shape. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a quick-freezing device to which the present embodiment is applied. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the structure of a cooling plate. [Figure 3] FIG. 1 shows an ice slurry ice maker. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a circulation path of ice slurry. [Figure 5] FIG. 1(A) is a perspective view showing the appearance of a quick-freezing device to which this embodiment is applied, and FIG. 1(B) is a perspective view showing a drawer-type table for placing objects to be frozen. [Figure 6] FIG. 1A is a perspective view showing the appearance of a quick-freezing device to which this embodiment is applied, and FIG. 1B is a perspective view showing a belt conveyor type table for placing objects to be frozen. [Figure 7] (A) is a diagram showing a quick-freezing device in which the cooling plate has a wall with an arc-shaped cross section, and (B) is a diagram showing a quick-freezing device in which the cooling plate has a wall with an elliptical arc-shaped cross section. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a quick-freezing device 1 to which this embodiment is applied. The quick-freezing device 1 is a device for rapidly freezing an object 10 to be frozen, and has cooling plates 11 arranged on six faces of a cube (ceiling face 11a, bottom face 11b, two side faces 11c and 11d, rear face 11e, and entrance door face 11f (not shown)). However, in FIG. 1, the cooling plate on entrance door face 11f is not shown, and the cooling plate 11 is omitted to show the interior. If an object 10 to be frozen stored in the quick-freezing device 1 is frozen while in direct contact with bottom face 11b, it will be difficult for the object 10 to separate from bottom face 11b, making it difficult to remove the object 10. For this reason, a freezing object placement table 13 for placing the object 10 to be frozen is provided on bottom face 11b. It is preferable that the contact area of ​​the freezing object placement table 13 with the object 10 to be frozen be as small as possible and that it have a shape that does not substantially block the cold radiation from bottom face 11b. For example, the freezing object placing table 13 is configured as a table on which the freezing object 10 can be placed by arranging a plurality of U-shaped metal wires.

[0010] The storage cell that constitutes the quick freezing device 1 is a space consisting of a top, bottom, and four sides for storing items to be frozen or refrigerated. Heat insulating material and / or a cooling plate 11 may be placed on the top and bottom of the storage cell. The retractable door is always closed, but is opened only when items are being loaded or unloaded. In this way, the storage cell is a space whose top, bottom, and four sides are closed with heat insulating material. This provides a structure that makes it difficult for cold air to escape. For example, the storage cell 12 is a cubic space with a side length of 30 to 50 cm.

[0011] The object to be frozen 10 may be anything that can be stored in the quick freezing device 1 and that can be frozen. For example, it may be food, beverages, medicines, food and beverage containers, biological tissue for freezing storage, etc. In particular, it may be food that is easily crumbled, such as cakes made with fresh cream, or fresh seafood that is easily crumbled, such as sea urchin.

[0012] 2 is a diagram showing the structure of cooling plate 11. On the back surface of cooling plate 11, a serpentine aluminum pipe 51 abuts against an aluminum plate 52, and ice slurry 53 serving as a refrigerant circulates within the pipe. Plate 52 and pipe 51 do not have to be made of aluminum; any material with high thermal conductivity will do. The cooling plate 11 does not necessarily have to be the type shown in Figure 2 in which a pipe through which the refrigerant (ice slurry) flows is in contact. Although not shown, the cooling plate 11 may be a flat tank consisting of two closely facing plates, with four closed sides and an inlet and outlet. This flat tank is preferably made by casting aluminum. In this case, the cooling plate 11 is maintained at a low temperature by the refrigerant flowing through the hollow interior of the flat tank.

[0013] Since the cooling plate 11 is maintained at the same low temperature as the refrigerant, the effect of cold radiation from the surface of the cooling plate 11 is great. The radiant energy emitted from an object is proportional to the fourth power of the absolute temperature, and the difference between the radiant energy of the cooling plate 11 and the radiant energy of the object to be cooled corresponds to the energy that produces the cooling effect of cold radiation. Therefore, the lower the temperature of the cooling plate 11, the greater the effect of cold radiation. Of course, the surrounding air cooled by the cooling plate 11 also has the effect of cooling the object to be cooled, but as mentioned above, the cooling effect of cold radiation is so great that the surface on which the cooling plate 11 is installed is sometimes called a cold radiation wall. In addition, in air-cooled refrigeration systems that use air as a refrigerant, the cooling efficiency is significantly reduced if the cold air leaks outside, but in refrigeration systems that use cold radiation as a cooling effect, the cooling effect is less affected by cold air leakage than in air-cooled systems. Furthermore, in air-cooled systems, the air temperature near the ceiling is higher than near the bottom, which can prevent uniform freezing. In this regard, if the cooling plate 11 cools from six sides by cold radiation, the temperature of the air and the object to be frozen is maintained uniform.

[0014] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an ice slurry icemaker. Ice slurry 53 (see FIG. 2) is produced and stored in a slurry tank 55 of an ice slurry icemaker 54 as shown in FIG. 3, and is then pumped through a refrigerant distribution pipe 51. The ice slurry icemaker 54 may have the structure described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2022-108702, filed by the applicant. Furthermore, instead of evaporating high-pressure refrigerant gas from a refrigerator within the ice-making plate (evaporator) (not shown) of the ice slurry icemaker 54, liquid nitrogen may be introduced into the ice-making plate (evaporator) and evaporated therein. Using liquid nitrogen allows for the production of ice slurries at lower temperatures, such as -60°C or -90°C. The refrigerant flowing through pipe 51 is preferably an ethanol ice slurry, and its concentration can be adjusted depending on the target cooling temperature. For example, for -20°C, an ethanol concentration of 32 wt% is preferable, and for -30°C, an ethanol concentration of 40 wt% is preferable. The ice slurry is a solid-liquid two-phase mixture of fine ice and liquid. Furthermore, for -40°C, an ethanol concentration of 50 wt% is preferable, and for -50°C, an ethanol concentration of 60 wt% is preferable.

[0015] FIG. 4 shows the ice slurry circulation path. To circulate the ice slurry, a slurry supply pump 56 and a slurry return pump 57 must be operated. The longer the ice slurry circulation path, the greater the pressure loss. Therefore, pressure loss can be reduced by configuring the circulation path in multiple parallel rows rather than a single continuous flow path. For example, the circulation path shown in FIG. 4 is a parallel path that branches into four paths along the way. Instead of supplying ice slurry to all four parallel paths, the ice slurry is supplied to each path individually by controlling the operation of the pump using solenoid valves 60 installed near the inlets and outlets of the parallel paths. By circulating the ice slurry through the multiple parallel paths individually while switching between them using the solenoid valves 60, the supply pump can operate at a constant, low pressure. This also reduces the power consumption required for slurry circulation.

[0016] FIG. 5(A) is a perspective view showing the exterior of a quick-freezing device 1 to which this embodiment is applied, and FIG. 5(B) is a perspective view showing a drawer-type freezing object placement table. Similar to the embodiment of FIG. 1, the storage cell has cooling plates 11 arranged on six surfaces: a ceiling surface 11a, a bottom surface 11b, side surfaces 11c and 11d, a rear surface 11e (not shown), and an entrance door surface 11f (not shown). However, the embodiment of FIG. 5 differs in that it is composed of multiple storage cells, each storage cell is a rectangular prism-shaped box with a long depth, and the freezing object placement table 13 is a drawer-type. A cooling plate 11 is arranged at the boundary surface between the storage cells. It is preferable that the drawer-type freezing object placement table 13 has a shape that does not substantially block the cold radiation from the bottom surface 11b and side surfaces 11c and 11d. For example, as shown in Figure 5(B), the frozen object placing table 13 has a single structure in which multiple U-shaped metal wires are arranged in the depth direction, but can be pulled out as a whole. Moreover, the frozen object placing table 13 can be pulled out because it is configured to slide on the bottom surface 11b. Therefore, frozen objects 10 can be easily stored in or removed from the deep space of the long quick-freezing device 1.

[0017] Furthermore, with regard to the entrance door surface, a door with a cooling plate 11 may be provided for each storage cell, or a common door may be provided for a plurality of storage cells. Furthermore, it is not necessary to place the cooling plate 11 between the storage cells, and a wall made of a material that easily transmits cold radiation may be used. For example, a threshold wall such as a wire mesh may be used. It should be noted that the term "quadrilateral prism" includes not only a rectangular parallelepiped with a long depth but also a cube.

[0018] FIG. 6(A) is a perspective view showing the exterior of a quick-freezing device to which this embodiment is applied, and FIG. 6(B) is a perspective view showing a belt conveyor-type freezing object placement platform. This embodiment is a quick-freezing device for quick-freezing objects 10 moving on a belt conveyor. For this reason, a freezing object placement platform 13 moves inside a long cubic shape, functioning as a belt conveyor. Cooling plates 11 are arranged on four surfaces: the ceiling surface 11a, the bottom surface 11b, and the sides 11c and 11d, but no cooling plates 11 are arranged on the entrance or the back surface. As the object 10 placed on the freezing object placement platform 13 moves along the belt conveyor, it receives radiated cold heat from the ceiling surface 11a, the bottom surface 11b, and the sides 11c and 11d. This allows frozen objects produced in a factory or the like to be quick-frozen during transportation within the factory, making the freezing process extremely efficient.

[0019] Figure 7(A) shows a quick freezing device in which the cooling plate 11 has a wall with an arc-shaped cross section, and (B) shows a quick freezing device in which the cooling plate 11 has a wall with an elliptical cross section. In this embodiment, while the quick freezing device in Figure 6 is rectangular prism-shaped, in the quick freezing device shown in Figure 7(A), the cooling plate 11 forms a wall with an arc-shaped (semicircular) cross section. Also, in the quick freezing device shown in Figure 7(B), the cooling plate 11 forms a wall with an elliptical cross section (half of an ellipse). In both Figures 7(A) and (B), the cooling plate 11 can be positioned closer to the object to be frozen 10 than in the example of Figure 6, and the amount of air in the internal space can be reduced, which reduces leakage of cold air and may improve cooling efficiency. Note that the "cooling plate" does not necessarily have to be flat, and even if it is plate-shaped and has a curved surface that is a circular or elliptical arc in cross section, as shown in Figure 7(A) or (B), it is also called a "cooling plate." Therefore, the "cooling plate" includes not only a flat wall, but also a wall surface that is a circular or elliptical arc.

[0020] In addition, when we say "frozen objects moving on a belt conveyor," the frozen objects do not have to be placed in direct contact with the belt conveyor, and it also includes the state in which the frozen objects are placed on a frozen object placement table 13 that moves along with the belt conveyor.

[0021] A number of embodiments have been described above, but in any of the embodiments, it is preferable to provide a heat insulating material on the outer wall surface of the cooling plate of the quick freezing device to prevent the cold heat from escaping. [Explanation of symbols]

[0022] 1... quick freezing device, 10... object to be frozen, 11... cooling plate, 13... object to be frozen placement table, 51... pipe, 52... plate, 53... ice slurry, 54... ice slurry ice maker, 55... slurry tank, 56... slurry supply pump, 57... slurry return pump, 60... solenoid valve

Claims

1. This quick-freezing device has cooling plates on the ceiling, bottom, and two side surfaces that are in contact with pipes through which a refrigerant circulates, or cooling plates through which a refrigerant circulates, in order to freeze items placed inside the rectangular prism-shaped interior.

2. The quick-freezing device according to claim 1 , wherein the rectangular prism is a cube.

3. 3. The quick-freezing device according to claim 1, wherein the cooling plates are also arranged on the inner surface and the entrance door surface.

4. A quick freezing device that is constructed by a cooling plate having a bottom surface and a long wall surface with an arc-shaped or elliptical arc-shaped cross section, and to which a pipe through which a refrigerant circulates is in contact, or a cooling plate through which a refrigerant circulates.

5. 5. A quick-freezing device according to claim 1, wherein the objects to be frozen are frozen while they are moving on a belt conveyor.

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